Collapsible, and adjustable crate.



-E. HORNADAY & w. J. CORNER. GOLLAPSIBLE, FOLDING, AND ADJUSTABLE CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 6, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

PATENTED iULY 21,1903.

Patented July 21, 1903.

Y PATENT OFFICE.

EDSON HORNADAY AND WILLIAM JASON CORNER, OF COLFAX, IOWA.

COLLA'PSIBLE, FOLDING, AND ADJUSTABLE CRATE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 734,493, dated July 21,1903.

Application filed October 6, 1902'- Serial No. 126,261. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Enson HORNADAY and WILLIAM JASON CORNER, citizensof the United States,residing at Colfax,in the county of Jasper andState of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Collapsible,Folding, and Adjustable Grate, of which the following is aspecification.

The objects of our invention are to provide a box-crate of simple,durable, and inexpensive construction which will be suflicientprotection for the ordinary tin box with glass front which is used inshipping cookies and the like.

A further object is to provide a box-crate the retaining portion ofwhich can be made adjustable as to size, and thus allow the shipper toadjust portions of the crate so that any size of box may be crated.

A further object is to provide a crate which can be easily and readilyfolded and when in its closed position it will occupy a minimum amountof space.

A further object is to provide a bail for the top of our device whichcan be easily and readily seated to the front portion of the crate, sothat the contents of the box which is illicased in our crate cannot betampered wit Afurther object is to provide a bail which can also be usedas a handle which can be used in moving our crate from one place toanother.

Our invention consists in certain details in the construction,arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device wherebythe objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully setforth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective viewof the completedevice. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of our device in its closed position.Fig. 3 is a top or plan View of our complete device, and Fig. 4 is aside elevation of.our device with the box in position in the crate and aportion of one of the uprights in the crate cut away to show the way inwhich the box rests upon the ad: justable supports.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

we have used the reference-numerals 10 and 11 to indicate two uprightposts in the front end of our crate. Said upright posts areconnected bythe horizontal slats 12, said slats being on the exterior front portionof the uprights 10 and 11. Between the lower inner portions of theuprights 10 and 11 and at the rear'of the slats 12 we have provided anadj ustable support 13, said support being held in place firmly betweenthe upright posts 10 and 11 by means of screws. upright posts 10 and 11we have provided a series of openings 14, so arranged that when thescrews near the ends of the adjustable support 13 are removed thesupport can be raised or lowered and the screws can be inserted into theopenings 14, and thus allow the adjustable support to be raisedorlowered at the pleasure of the operator. We have provided a rear endportion 15, comprising the same parts as the front portion, and it isarranged substantiallylike the front portion, except that the slats 12are placed on the rear portion of the uprights 10 and 11. The adjustablesupports 13 and the uprights 10 and 11 are so arranged that a box can beplaced upon the top of the adjustable supports 13 and between the sideslO and 11 of both the front and rear ends of our crate. It will be seenthat the boxes will then rest against the slats 12 of both the front andrear 7 portions.

Near the lower end of the upright posts 10 and 11 of the front portionof our frame we have mounted the staples 16. In the uprights 10 and 11of the rear frame we have'mounted the rods 17, said rods beingsubstantially parallei with the face of the uprights 10 and 11, to whichthey are attached. The body portion of these rods is a slight distanceaway from the face of the uprights 10 and 11, to which they areattached. To the staptes 16 we have attached the rods '18, which connectthese staples with the rods 17, upon which the ends of the rods 18areslidingly mounted at the end opposite to that which is attached to thestaples 16, so that when the front portion of the frame is pushedrearwardly and the rear end of the rods 18 are pushed upwardly they willslide upwardly on the rods 17, and thus allow the front portion of theframe to approach the rear portion of the In each of the Y frame andfinally reach the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

We have provided a wire bail 19, comprising a single piece of wire, theends of which are drawn together until they overlap each other and theirrear ends extend some distance apart. These rear ends are pivotallymounted to the upright posts 10 and 11, respectively, of the rear end ofthe crate. The rear end portion of the wire bail 19 is held in thisposition by means of the sleeve 20, and this sleeve is made adjustable,so that by pushing the sleeve rearwardly the entire bail 19 will beshortened on account of the wire being so bent that the rear endportions cross each other, and as the sleeve is moved forwardly the bailwill be lengthened slightly near the central portion of the bail. \Vehave bent both portions of the wire upwardly at 21 to form a handle insaid bail. The forward end of the bail is bent substantially at rightangles to the body portion thereof, so that when the bail rests againstthe top portion of the upper slat 12 in the front portion of the framethe projection 22, which has been bent at right angles to the bodyportion of the bail, will overlap the upper slat 12, and said projectionwill allow the screw-eye 23 to be received between the side portions ofit, and the forward ends of the bail can be locked relative to theforward end of the crate by means of this arrangement.

In practical use and assuming that the portions of the crate are in theposition shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings the shipper removes the forwardends of the bail from the screweye 23 and draws the forward end of saidbail upwardly and rearwardly on its pivot. He then places the box whichhe desires to ship on the adjustable supports 13 and between the posts10 and 11 in the front and rear end of the frame. He then swings theforward end of the bail downwardly and forwardly and hooks it over thescrew-eye 23 and secures the bail in that position. then crated readyfor shipping, and it will be seen by this arrangement that the boxcannot slip in any direction relative to the frame and an absolutelysafe crate is provided.

Assuming that the box is substantially less in height than the distancebetween the upper surface of the adjustable supports 13 when thissupport is in the position shown in Fig. 1 and the under surface of thebail 19, the operator removes the screws in the adjustable supports 13from them and raises the supports upwardly to a position between any ofthe openings 14 in the uprights 10 and 11, provided both ends of theadjustable supports 13 are raised the same distance. The screws are theninserted into the openings 14. which are nearest the adjustable support,and the shipper retains the supports in the position desired by means ofthese screws. If the operator desires to lessen the distance between thefront and rear portion of the crate, he can do so by simply bending therods 18 at a The box is different point,and thus shorten them. Thus thefront and rear portion of the crate will be nearer together. The bailcan be shortened in the same way. When the box has been removed from thecrate and it is desired to ship simply thecrate, the shipper raises theforward end of the bail a slight distance and then allows it to swingdownwardly against the rear portion of the crate. He then pushes theforward portion of the crate in a direction toward the rear portionthereof and pushes the rear ends of the rods 18 upwardly, so that theywill slide on the rods 17, and the crate will soon be in its closedposition, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

Havingthns described ourinvention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is-

1. In a crate, the combination of a front portion, a rear portion,horizontal slats on the exterior of said front and rear portions,adjustable supports mounted in said front and rear portions,connecting-rods pivotally mounted at one end to the front portion andslidingly attached at their other end to the rear portion, a bail forholding the front and rear portions of the frame in position relative toeach other, for the purposes stated.

2. In a crate, the combination of a front portion, slats at the forwardend of said front portion, a screw-eye in the upper of said slats, anadjustable support in said front portion, a rear portion, slats at therear of said rear portion, a vertically-adjustable support in said rearportion, connecting-rods between said front portion and said rearportion so arranged that the front and rear portions can be drawn towardeach other, a bail pivotally attached to the rear portion for engagingthe screw-eye on the front portion and hold the front and rear portionsrelative to each other, for the purposes stated.

3. In a crate, the combination of a front portion, slats at the forwardend of said front portion, a screw-eye in the u pper'of said slats, anadjustable support in said front portion, a rear portion, slats at therear of said rear portion, a vertically-adjustable support in said rearportion, connecting-rods between said front portion and said rearportion so arranged that the front and rear portions can be drawn towardeach other, abail pivotally mounted on the rear portion for engaging thescrew-eye on the front portion and hold the front and rear portionsrelative to each other, means for shortening and lengthening the bail,for the purposes stated.

4. In a crate, the combination of a front portion, a rear portion,connecting-rods pivotally attached at one end to the front portion andslidingly attached at their other end to the rear portion, a bailattached to one of said portions at one end and designed to engage theother of said portions at the other end of said bail, for the purposesstated.

5. In a crate, the combination of a front portion, a-rear portion,connecting-rods piv- IIO otally and slidingly mounted between saidportions, a bail for holding the front and rear portions in positionrelative to each other.

6. In a crate, the combination of a front portion, a rear portion,connecting-rods between said front portion and said rear portiondesigned to hold the front and rear portions in position relative toeach other at their lower ends and also to allow the front and rearportions to be drawn toward each other by slidingly mounting the rearends of said connecting-rods, and pivotally mounting the front ends ofthem, a. bail pivotally necting-rods attached to said front portion andslidingly mounted on the rods which are attached to the rear portion, abail attached to said rear portion and capable of being attached to thefront portion, for the purposes stated.

EDSON HORNADAY. WILLIAM JASON CORNER.

Witnessesz' B. F. WINTERSTEEN,

EVERET M. ALLEN.

